Faces By Ren: Faces by Ren Jan. to July

I don't even know where to start....my life went into upheaval last year for good cause and I'm back in full force but I don't even know where to begin as there have been so many great changes! I'll keep it simple. I met Keith Dixon in 2008 for the first time and last year we started seeing each other. He is a professional photographer and together we have had an amazing amount of fun working.

We just rebuilt both our websites, we've been shooting portraits and art projects and the big news this month is we are opening our own studio in downtown Jonesborough with Jim and Krisna Goodwin of "Jim Goodwin Photography".

We couldn't be more excited!! There will be weekly classes on photography, makeup, art and much more. There are plans afoot to build a darkroom for black and white film photography. So many great things are happening here in my corner of the world and it's hard not to get overwhelmed sometimes. Anyhoo, the following images are a small sampling of our work for the first half of this year. Enjoy!

Models: Susan Smith Andrews and Laura Bowman
Photographer: Keith Dixon
Shot at the Metro-Productions studio in Johnson City TN

Models: Susan Lachman and myself (just goofing around during her portrait sitting)
Photographer: Keith Dixon

Model: Sierra Allen (yes, she's my girl)
Photographer: Keith Dixon
This was one piece of a large body of work that Keith and I did for our "Semiotic Imaginings" art show displayed for the month of April at the SR404 Gallery.

Applying makeup on model Tiffany Church for the 26th annual Tri-Cities Bridal Show in January.

My friend Jen Norris brought her beautiful girls in for some Mother/Daughter portraits. Her daughters are exceptionally adorable!

We had a great time playing in the studio with the controversial and always fun Chris Crocker.

One of the best things for me personally, is the movement into professional photography. I still feel like such an amateur in so many ways, but I'm learning a lot and having an incredible time doing so....

Model: Shanna Tate, hair stylist for Enkore Salon and day spa
Photographer: Ren

I did Shanna's makeup for her birthday and shot a few pictures just for fun. So this look was mine from makeup to photo editing.

Last Sunday we worked on a collaborative project with the Goodwins. The idea was for Krisna and I to get some practice with studio lighting so we brought in four models to work with. I did the makeup of course, and then made a lot of mistakes learning how to adjust to different lighting situations. Fell in love with the ring light Jim and Krisna brought! The following images are my first attempts at studio photography. Thanks to Jim and Keith for being such awesome mentors.

Model:Kayla Neikirk, harpist extraordinaire